“A quick review because you don’t need so many words with a game like this ” was how Adelaide United coach Rini Coolen summed up his team’s disappointing 0-0 draw with Newcastle Jets on Friday night.

At least the post-match press conference was quicker and arguably less painful than the 90-minute stalemate the 8,403 fans who turned up at Hindmarsh Stadium were forced to endure.

It was Adelaide’s smallest home crowd of the season – excluding the ‘home’ fixture Gold Coast United played at the compact venue – with the Reds shedding fans at the rate of about 2,000 per match.

That’s not surprising given the sort of football they’ve played this season and much of the blame lies squarely at the feet of Rini Coolen.

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He seems a nice enough fellow but after releasing Adam Hughes, Paul Reid and Dario Bodrusic during the off-season, how can he turn around and claim United are now in desperate need of replacement players?

The club is going backwards and not only do they appear to lack the backroom staff to change things, they’ve also managed to get offside with an increasingly hostile local media.

And all this under the auspices of Coolen, who at the start of the season signed a new four-year deal which locks him at the club until 2015.

Good luck to him and Adelaide United but at the rate they’re going, it’s hard to escape the feeling Rini Coolen is the weakest link at the struggling South Australian side.

Coolen said he decided to take legal action against Adelaide United not only because he said the Reds had a contract to honour but because he thought if he didn't do it coaches' contracts would not be worth the paper they're written on.

The Dutchman remained silent for 13 months while the battle was played out in the courts.

Coolen said he appointed one of the state's best legal teams to take care of business but he didn't see the lawsuit as a personal attack on the club.

Last Tuesday, Coolen received a $760,000 payout, including $360,000 in legal expenses. The Dutchman said the past 13 months had been the worst of his entire life.

"I wanted to send a clear message because if I didn't fight for this another coach could be in the same predicament," Coolen said.

Former Aberdeen and Rangers keeper Theo Snelders knows Coolen better than most after working under him during his two years in charge of Twente Enschede.

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He told Record Sport: “I worked with Rini at Twente Enschede. He was assistant coach to Rene Vandereycken at first and then he took over.

“Rene was an experienced player and coach and could see danger ahead at Twente as the club had real financial problems. They were close to administration and could only bring in free transfers or injury-prone players and Vandereycken decided to leave.

“Rini was a young, promising coach and Twente didn’t have money so they gave him the responsibility. The club had a three-year plan to balance the books and Rini did very well in his first season.

“We beat Ajax away and that was a sensational result for us because it was only the second time in the club’s history they had won in Amsterdam and the first time in 14 years.

“But the second year was tough because people expected more and it wasn’t possible with the squad we had.

“He was a promising young coach when he took the job but for him it was the wrong step. Twente were a bit of a rollercoaster at that time and I’d call it crisis management. That kind of experience will ensure he’s equipped to handle the Rosenborg job.

“He’s a calm guy with a good personality and gets on well with players. It still can’t be easy to be placed in a situation like this with the backlash.

“He is a very good person, he has knowledge of the game and can really spot talent. He is tactically very aware and can spot danger from the opposition.

Thank you for the posts, got a better idea on the man in charge now. How are the supporters reacting? I tried to google translate my way through the Koteng - Kare saga, but what is the situation atm, especially after what I would call a defeat-by-manager?

The supporters appear to be extremely polarized - many support the boards decision to end Kåre's reign, others think it was a huge mistake to let him go. Diplomacy between the two groups are at an all-time low. Most people also seem to question the timing.

And the pro-Kåre people think that the anti-Kåre crowd hates everything he stood for, while the people who supported the sacking seem to think the Kåreans behave like a cult.

Very much a simplification but I wouldn't expect these groups to agree on anything any time soon._________________Rosenborg for alltid - uansett! | Troillprat.no

I believe even the people who really wanted Kåre to go will at some point in the not-so-distant future see him as the hero and savior he was. He rescued us from a REAL shitty coach and made Rosenborg fun again. He made us resemble our glory days and remember our finest moments. And he did it smiling and cracking jokes.

Then eventually that kinda faded out, and the "new car smell" was replaced by the stink of shameful 3 o'clock McDonalds meals. Ok, so I exaggerate, but thinks gradually went from happy-go-lucky to something somewhat less than that.

And while he was a fine savior, the board did not think he had the ability to take us from "always among the best in Norway" to "regular European contenders (if not for the titles)".

It seems hard right now, but it is actually possible both to be eternally grateful to Kåre for his efforts, and think it was time to try something new. _________________Rosenborg for alltid - uansett! | Troillprat.no

Very much agreed. It is crucial though to have someone who has the capacity to take the team further, before breaking up with Kare. Do you think Rini was planned, or just the temporary solution? I really think since the fresh car smell was long gone (considering the quality of football presented since the beginning of the season), could there be a bit more if pre-planning?

Pro-Kareans and Anti-Kareans have a go at each other like...North Kareans and South Kareans Sorry I know not funny and slightly politically incorrect (or maybe I have been exposed to Dutch political climate too much)

Haha, don't worry, it sounds like that in norwegian as well so the south vs. north Kåreans has kinda been alluded to as a conflict that isn't about to end any time soon.

I really don't know (and don't understand) what kind of planning the board has put into this. If it was really necessary to get rid of Kåre right at that moment, then having more of a plan than "we'll get someone from our own ranks who knows what football is and then eventually get someone much better than Kåre" seems a little risky right before the most important match so far this season. Given that the board decided Kåre had to go, perhaps they felt the only fair way was to do it right away, but I haven't seen any convincing arguments why this was the only way to go.

I'm thinking there's gonna be a bit of a debate about this in February or so at the annual meeting where the members (who, when it comes down to it, are the people who elect the board) will want to know the reasoning for doing it in exactly this way.._________________Rosenborg for alltid - uansett! | Troillprat.no